REGION: Interfaith looks west for new sobering center site

With about six months left until it loses its lease on a
city-owned property in Escondido,
Interfaith
Community Services
appears to be looking west for a new home
for its sobering center.

The nonprofit organization and
Tri-City Medical
Center
are working together to find a new site for the program,
which provided a safe place for 684 North County residents to sober
up in 2010.

Tri-City officials said Tuesday they would "acquire" a site for
Interfaith, but provided no further details. No formal agreement
exists between the two agencies.

Teresa Connors, director of media relations for Tri-City, said
the public healthcare district sees value in the work done at the
center and wants to make sure that work continues.

"What we're trying to do is help a social services agency that
has a remarkable history of helping people in need in our
community," she said.

The city of Escondido notified Interfaith in 2010 that the
nonprofit would need to vacate city-owned space on Spruce Street by
May because it's within an area near Interstate 15 and Highway 78
that Escondido is preparing for future redevelopment.

One possible use for that area is minor league baseball stadium
that would be affiliated with the San Diego Padres.

Craig Jones, assistant director of Interfaith Community
Services, said Monday that the charitable organization has been
talking to Tri-City officials about moving to a space somewhere in
Vista.

"Both agencies think there is great mutual benefit in this,"
Jones said.

Tri-City owns an office building at Vista Way and Thunder Drive
across the street from its main campus, but Connors said there's no
plan to use that for Interfaith because there's not enough
space.

"The two parties are in the early stages of identifying a
suitable location, but it will not necessarily be in real estate
currently owned by the district," Connors said in an email.

Interfaith is a local powerhouse among San Diego County
charities that serve the needy.

Its sobering and stabilization program provides a room, complete
with 10 mats laying on a tile floor, where intoxicated Escondido
residents can sleep off the effects of a booze binge.

Referrals come from a range of sources. Jones said Escondido
police officers often drop off inebriated residents who would
otherwise have to be arrested but who have committed no other
crime. Local emergency rooms also generate referrals.

The facility also houses 22 beds that are part of a transitional
housing program. An additional 12 beds are housed at Interfaith's
main facility in Escondido on West Washington Avenue. In 2010 the
transitional housing program served 123 residents.

Jones said he hoped that a new facility would allow all 34 beds
to be under one roof and added that a bit for space for a larger
sobering room would be welcome.

Richard Batt, executive director at Interfaith, said moving the
center west would allow it to serve a wider swath of North County
residents.

A North County Times study in September showed that Escondido
booked only 79 suspected drunks into the Vista Jail in August,
compared to 119 for Oceanside, which has no sobering center.